History gets a later dateline to keep best of the past in country

May 31, 2007

Jane Macartney in Beijing

China is to curb a flood of antiquities coming on to the international market by banning the export of artefacts made before 1911. Shan Jixiang, the director-general of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, announced that the law would come into effect at the end of the year.
For half a century China has allowed the export of artefacts and antiques dated after 1795.
“Many items in current circulation on the mainland will be stopped from flowing on to the overseas market,” Mr Shan said. It was not clear how China would stem a possible flood of antiques out of the country during the intervening months before the new date goes into effect.
China had selected the date 1795 because this was the year of the abdication of Qianlong, one of the greatest emperors of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) and a great collector and renowned connoisseur of porcelain. The end of his reign marked the start of a rapid decline in the quality of porcelain because subsequent emperors began to lose control of tax collection. Accordingly, they lacked the means to lavish on ceramics production, for which previous dynasties and many individual emperors had been renowned.
As prices for Chinese porcelain have soared, fine imperial ceramics from before 1795 have become increasingly rare. This has resulted in a new interest in items of a later date.
William Hanbury-Tenison, a fine-art agent, said: “Say ten or fifteen years ago, these porcelains were pretty cheap. But now auction houses have very little else and items said to date from the Yongzheng, Kangxi and Qianlong emperors are mainly fakes.”
Currently, anyone wanting to export a Chinese antique must take the item to be verified by the authorities, who provide a certificate and stamp the item with a red wax seal. Some antiques have always been prohibited from export, most notably porcelain from the imperial kilns, stone carvings and metal cast figures, such as Buddhas.
The theft of relics has become rampant in recent years as people have become aware of the value of ancient artefacts from China on the international market. Mr Shan said: “The thieves and smugglers are organised and well equipped. They have networks around the globe, and these days tend to use violence much more than they did before.”
The smugglers also use the increasingly advanced technology available to plunder antiques from shipwrecks lying off the Chinese coast. Officials said that the robbers were financed by international black-market sales of the mostly blue and white porcelain.
Mr Shan said: “Many precious artworks, such as ancient rock carvings by ethnic minority groups, are bought for pennies and then smuggled abroad.”
Antique dealers in Beijing said that they expected the new ban to do little to deter smuggling, given the ease with which those in the trade can bribe Customs officers to turn a blind eye and the difficulty of tracking down small items in large shipments.